Metal housing, especially for an airbag control device

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a metal housing  1 , especially for an airbag control device, comprising a bottom plate and a cover plate, a rear wall and two side walls  5, 6 , having mounting elements in the interior of the housing for at least one printed circuit board, and with a terminal element arranged at the front side of the housing for at least one connection element. According to the invention, the bottom—and/or the cover plate is/are connected with an installation plate  22, 23  which is attachable to a support. In this arrangement, projections are being utilized which are embeddable in and can be pressed into recesses of the installation plate.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to housings that are particularly well suited foruse with airbag control devices. The subject housing includes a bottomplate, a top plate, a rear wall, two side walls, and receiving elementsarranged inside the housing for receiving at least one printed circuitboard. The subject housing further includes a terminal element arrangedat the front side of the housing and at least one connection element.

The general state of the art includes design of such housings comprisingseveral components. The components are respectively adapted to theinstallation conditions. This results in substantial inventorymaintenance costs. Additionally, the several components must be arrangedso that the components are installed in a functionally correct manner.

In contrast thereto, it is an object of the invention to provide ahousing of the aforementioned type in such a fashion so that the resultis an element which can readily and quickly be adapted to itsinstallation environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above object and others are solved according to the invention inthat the bottom plate and/or the cover plate of the housing isselectively connectable with one or more mounting plate(s) which is/areattachable to a support. The housing is of a single-piece constructionand the bottom plate and/or cover plate of the housing is provided withprojections. The projections are arranged and impressed inside recessesof the mounting plate. This produces the benefit that by means of themounting plate, which is adapted to the mounting conditions, only asingle housing is needed for use in a wide range of applications.Thereby, the housing can be attached, in any fashion, to an associatedsupport by merely selecting a suitable mounting plate. Thus, only onehousing type is required. The singular housing type is attachable to thesupport via the mounting plate. The mounting plate is adapted to fit theparticular installation environment. Said mounting plate additionallyeffectuates a reinforcement function resulting, overall, in a stablestructure.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, the projectionsextend in several parallel rows and/or lines. The projections aremanufactured from ribs formed onto the bottom plate and/or the coverplate of the housing. This results in efficient manufacturing since theribs and/or rows of ribs are formed integrally with the housing, as asingle piece construction. Depending upon the installation requirements,the ribs or rows are machined, e.g. by milling, so that the locationsand arrangement of the projections correspond to the recesses formed inthe mounting plate.

Portions of the mounting plates selectively extend, at least in part,beyond the bottom plate and/or the cover plate to present attachmentregions as desired. These attachment regions can, for example, serve asflanges that include at least one transverse opening, by which it ispossible to attach the metal housing, e.g. an airbag control devicehousing, to the appropriate associated support in a functionally correctmanner.

According to a first embodiment of the invention, the mounting plate isselectively fastened at either the bottom plate or the cover plate ofthe housing, and includes three attachment regions. In this arrangement,the mounting plate is attachable to the bottom plate or to the coverplate of the housing, and can be rotated by 180° with respect to itsoriginal position and relative to the cover or bottom plate of thehousing. This arrangement of the mounting plate enables many mountingcombinations, so that the metal housing can be installed in many typesof motor vehicles without requiring vehicle-specific housingconfigurations.

In order to guarantee excellent control of the circuit board within thehousing using the aforementioned attachment, in another embodiment ofthe invention, the side walls of the single-piece housing and the rearwall include guide elements for receiving and holding the circuit board.In a preferred arrangement, the guide elements of the side walls arepreferably grooves defined by the side walls and the guide elements ofthe rear wall are electrically conducting contacts.

According to another aspect of the invention, the contacts define afork-shaped area for contacting and supporting the circuit board and anarea which is connectable with the rear wall and includes at least oneopening that positions and presses together with a projection of therear wall.

In order to provide another installation aid, in yet another embodiment,the terminating element is selectively connected via at least one detentconnection with the front side of the housing. In this arrangement,detent units are provided in the area of the front side of the housingas desired. The detent units clip into corresponding detent grooves ofthe terminating element which is preferably made of plastic. In this wayit is possible to connect, in simple fashion, the terminating elementwith the single-piece housing in a functionally correct manner.

Numerous benefits and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading andunderstanding the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may take form in various components and arrangements ofcomponents, and in various steps and arrangements of steps. The drawingsare only for the purpose of illustrating preferred embodiments and arenot to be construed as limiting the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a housing in accordance with a firstembodiment of the invention used in an airbag control deviceapplication;

FIG. 2 shows a top view of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a sectional view of the device of FIGS. 1 and 2 taken alongthe line III—III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of the single-piece housing of thedevice of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 shows a top view of the mounting plate of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 shows an enlarged view of a detent stop portion at the front sideof the housing of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of a portion of the front area of theterminating elements of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 shows a partial front view of an electrically conductive contact;

FIG. 9 shows a side view of the contact according to FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 shows a perspective view of a metal housing in accordance withanother embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 11 shows a perspective view of the housing of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 shows a top view of the housing of FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 shows a perspective view of a metal housing in accordance withanother embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 14 shows a front view of the housing of FIG. 13; and,

FIG. 15 shows a top view of the housing of FIG. 13.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 4, a metal housing 1, particularly suitedfor housing an airbag control device, includes a bottom plate 2, a coverplate 3, a rear wall 4, and two side walls 5, 6. These individualcomponents of the housing 1 are all provided as a single unitaryconstruction, i.e. as a single-piece housing. The single-piece housing 1is preferably made of aluminum and is preferably produced in onemanufacturing step, e.g. by continuous extrusion casting.

The front side of the housing is tightly closed by a terminating element20, as best shown in FIG. 1. A circumferential gasket 25 (FIG. 3)provides sealing between the terminating element 20 and the interiorwall and/or the front side of the housing 1. The gasket 25 seals theinterior of the single-piece housing 1. The terminating element 20preferably includes detent grooves 17 (FIG. 7) which are clipped intocorrespondingly designed detent stops 16 (FIG. 6) to provide a quick andsecure connection between the plastic terminating element 20 and thesingle-piece housing 1.

With reference to FIGS. 1 through 5, the bottom plate 2 and/or the coverplate 3 are connected with one or more mounting plates 22, 23 which areattachable to a support (not shown). In the arrangement shown in FIGS.2, 4, and 5, the bottom plate 2 includes projections 40 (FIG. 4). Themounting plate(s) 22 or 23 is/are positioned relative to theprojections. The projections 40 are placed and impressed, afterpositioning, into recesses 45 (FIGS. 2 and 5) of the mounting plate 22or 23.

With reference to FIGS. 2 and 5, the projections 40 preferably extend inseveral parallel rows I, II, III, and IV and are manufactured, e.g. bymilling, from ribs formed onto the bottom plate 2 and/or the cover plate3 during the extrusion process. By retention of a given detent and/orthe manufacturing of installation plates 22 or 23 with differentrecesses, the metal housing 1 of the exemplary airbag control device iseasily adapted to the installation environment and can be installed ontoa wide range of supports corresponding to different types of motorvehicles.

As seen in FIG. 3, the installation plates 22 and 23 extend, at leastpartially, beyond the edge(s) of the bottom plate 2 and/or the coverplate 3 and have attachment regions 50.1, 50.2, and 51. As seen in FIG.2, these attachment regions 50.1, 50.2, and 51 are preferably formedinto flanges having at least one traversing opening 55. However, otherforms for the attachment regions are also contemplated. The housing 1can thus be installed in a wide range of support types using themounting plates 22 and 23 with appropriately formed attachment regions,e.g. attachment regions 50.1, 50.2, and 51.

With reference next to FIGS. 3 and 4, the side walls 5, 6 of theone-piece housing 1 and the rear wall 4 include guide elements 8, 8′, 18adapted to receive a circuit board 10. In the illustrated embodiment,the guide elements of the side walls 5, 6 are simple recesses 8, 8′,while the guide elements 18 of the rear wall 4 include electricallyconducting contacts.

With reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, the contacts 18 include a fork-shapedregion 48 that impinge upon and support the circuit board 10. Thecontacts 18 also include a region 49 which connects with the rear wall4. The region 49 includes at least one opening 52 for embedding andpressing together with a projection 53 (FIG. 4) of the rear wall 4. Asbest seen in FIG. 3, this arrangement provides secure support of thecircuit board 10 inside the metal housing 1 that is equipped withinstallation plates 22, 23.

The projections 40 arranged on the bottom plate 2 and/or the cover plate3 are preferably arranged in rows. However, other arrangements of theseprojections are also contemplated, such as a cross-shaped projection orother arrangement, based upon the design and shape of the correspondingsupport plate 22, 23.

With reference to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 through 3, the attachmentregion 51 is located in the vicinity of the opening 30 of the metalhousing 1. The attachment region 51 is connected via an edge 28 of themounting plate 22 with the attachment region 50.2. The attachment region50.1 is preferably arranged in parallel with the rear wall 4. Theattachment region 50.1 includes a flange.

With reference to FIGS. 10 through 12, a housing in accordance withanother embodiment of the invention will be described. The installationplate 22, which in the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 10 through 12includes three attachment regions 50.1, 50.2, and 50.3, is attached tothe cover plate 3 of the metal housing 1 in such a fashion that theinstallation plate 22 is rotated by 180° vis-a-vis the originalposition. Consequently, the attachment region 50.1 is located in thearea of the opening 30 of the metal housing 1 and parallel to theattachment region 50.2. The attachment region 50.2 includes athrough-pass opening 55′ which in the illustrated embodiment is alongitudinal hole. The attachment region 51 is arranged parallel to theside wall 5 of the metal housing 1. The three regions 50.1, 50.2, 50.3include flanges.

The installation plate 22 also includes recesses 45. In a manner similarto that of the embodiment of FIGS. 1 through 3, projections 40 embedinto and, after positioning, compress into the recesses 45.

With reference to FIGS. 13 through 15, a housing in accordance with yetanother embodiment of the invention will be described. In thisembodiment, the attachment regions 50.2 and 51 are arranged at ends ofan edge 28 of the mounting plate 23, in the vicinity of the opening 30of the metal housing 1 and along-side the side wall 6. As seen in FIG.15, the third attachment region 50.1 includes a flange and extendsalongside the rear wall 4 of the metal housing 1.

The three aforementioned embodiments have in common that the oneinstallation plate 22 includes at least three attachment regions 50.1,50.2, 51, and is connectable either with the bottom plate 2 or the coverplate 3 of the housing 1 via the recesses 45 and the projections 40.Furthermore, the embodiment of FIGS. 10 through 12 shows that theinstallation plate 22 is selectively attachable to the bottom plate 2 orto the cover plate 3 of the housing 1, rotated by 180° vis-a-vis theoriginal position. Thus, a single metal housing is attached toassociated support members or areas in a wide variety of ways as desiredusing differently designed installation plates 22, 23.

Moreover, the metal housing 1 is advantageously produced by extrusionmolding. This production method enables manufacture of housings havingdifferent lengths without incurring added manufacturing costs. By merelyproviding a detent (not shown) when cutting the housing to length, adiversity of housing sizes are produced. This expands the functionalscope of the housings, and also enables optional integration of otherelectronic sub-assemblies into the housing 1.

Beneficially, the invention enables use of only a single housing type ina wide range of applications through simple use of differentbottom/cover plate combination(s), resulting in reduced inventorymaintenance costs. The extrusion molding process and the versatileattachment options afforded by the installation plates 22, 23 result insubstantial reduction in the cost of the metal housing 1.

Overall, this results in a simply constructed metal housing, which hasparticular application for an airbag control device, that can beemployed in conjunction with a diversity of installation arrangementscorresponding to a wide range of vehicle types, while substantiallyreducing the inventory maintenance costs.

The invention has been described with reference to the preferredembodiments. Obviously, modifications and alterations will occur toothers upon reading and understanding the preceding detaileddescription. It is intended that the invention be construed as includingall such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within thescope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A housing for use with an associated an airbagcontrol device, the housing comprising: a bottom plate; an installationplate adapted to connect with the bottom plates, the installation plateadditionally being adapted to attach to an associated supports; aplurality of projections on the bottom plate; and, a plurality ofrecesses defined by the installation plate, the plurality of recessesbeing adapted to receive the plurality of projections.
 2. The housing asset forth in claim 1, wherein: the installation plate is adapted toattach to the bottom plate in a first orientation; relative to thebottom plate in a second orientation relative to the bottom plate thatis rotated 180° relative to the first orientation.
 3. The housing as setforth in claim 1, further comprising: guide elements adapted to receivean associated circuit board.
 4. The housing as set forth in claim 1,further comprising: a rear wall; side walls; recesses disposed on theside walls and adapted to receive edges of an associated circuit board;and electrically conducting contacts disposed on the rear wall andadapted to electrically connect with the associated circuit board. 5.The housing as set forth in claim 4, wherein the electrically conductingcontacts comprise: a mechanical supporting element adapted tomechanically support the associated circuit board.
 6. The housing as setforth in claim 1, further comprising: at least one detent connectionthat connects the terminating element with the front side of thehousing.
 7. The housing as set forth in claim 1, wherein the terminatingelement comprises a plastic material.
 8. The housing as set forth inclaim 1, further comprising: a circumferential gasket providing sealingbetween the terminal element and the front of the housing.
 9. A metalhousing for use with an associated airbag control device, the housingcomprising: a bottom plate; a cover plate; a rear wall; two side walls;at least one receiver element arranged in the interior of the housingand adapted to receive at least one printed circuit board; a terminatingelement arranged at a front side of the housing, the terminating elementbeing adapted to connect with at least one connection element; aninstallation plate adapted to connect with at least one of the bottomplate and the cover plate, the installation plate additionally beingadapted to attach to an associated support; a plurality of projectionson at least one of the bottom plate and the cover plate; and, aplurality of recesses on in the installation plate adapted to receivethe projections.
 10. The metal housing as set forth in claim 9, wherein:the projections are arranged into a plurality of parallel rows on atleast one of the bottom plate and the cover plate.
 11. A metal housingfor use with an associated airbag control device, the housingcomprising: a bottom plate; a cover plate; a rear wall; two side walls;at least one receiver element arranged in the interior of the housingand adapted to receive at least one printed circuit board; a terminatingelement arranged at a front side of the housing, the terminating elementbeing adapted to connect with at least one connection element; aninstallation plate adapted to connect with at least one of the bottomplate and the cover plate, the installation plate additionally beingadapted to attach to an associated support; and, attachment regionsformed by the installation plate for adapting the housing for connectionwith the associated support, the attachment regions at least partiallyprotruding beyond the bottom plate or the cover plate.
 12. The metalhousing as set forth in claim 11, wherein at least one attachment regiondefines a traversing opening or hole arranged therein.
 13. The metalhousing as set forth in claim 11, further comprising a flange formedinto an attachment region.
 14. The metal housing as set forth in claim11, wherein the attachment regions are formed into an edge of theinstallation plate.
 15. A housing for use with an associated airbagcontrol device, the housing comprising: a bottom plate; a cover plate; arear wall; two side walls; at least one receiver element arranged in theinterior of the housing and adapted to receive at least one printedcircuit board; a terminating element arranged at a front side of thehousing, the terminating element being adapted to connect with at leastone connection element; an installation plate adapted to connect with atleast one of the bottom plate and the cover plate, the installationplate additionally being adapted to attach to an associated support;recesses disposed on the side walls and adapted to receive edges of anassociated circuit board; and, electrically conducting contacts disposedon the rear wall and adapted to electrically connect with the associatedcircuit board, wherein the electrically conducting contacts include: afork-shaped region selectively connectable with the associated circuitboard; and a region having an opening mechanically connectable with aprojection of the rear wall.
 16. A housing for an airbag control devicecomprising: a hollow metal-extruded shell having a connection side,including a plurality of projections, the shell defining grooves adaptedto receive an associated printed circuit board; a terminating elementthat closes off one end of the extruded shell and that electricallyconnects with the associated printed circuit board; and an installationplate defining a plurality of recesses selectively receiving theplurality of projections to connect with the connection side of theshell, the installation plate additionally being adapted to attach to anassociated support of an associated motor vehicle.
 17. The housing asset forth in claim 16, further comprising: a plurality of firstinterconnecting elements disposed on the connection side of the shell;and a plurality of second interconnecting elements disposed on theinstallation plate that cooperate with the first interconnectingelements to effectuate the connection between the installation plate andthe shell.